


Stargazer Lily Bouquets

by pizzahamster



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Cheryl Blossom Needs a Hug, F/F, Family Feels, Gen, Minor Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Mother's Day, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 02:57:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14632653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pizzahamster/pseuds/pizzahamster
Summary: The following morning, when Cheryl handed Penelope the lavish bouquet and her handmade Mother’s Day card, Mrs. Blossom was barely able to contain her scowl. After taking the floral arrangement from Cheryl’s hands, Penelope quickly called for a housemaid, pointedly giving instructions to dispose of the flowers in front of Cheryl.ORCheryl Blossom and Mother's Day throughout the years.





	Stargazer Lily Bouquets

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I haven't written fanfic in years, so please bear with me. So tomorrow is Mother's Day and this idea kind of came to me a few hours ago and I sorta had to write it? I dunno. Mistakes are all mine because it's past 3am and I'm half asleep. Jk, I can't type gud even when I'm totes awake. Hope you like reading sad!Cheryl. You're welcome. Please don't @ me.

When Cheryl and Jason were in their last year of preschool, they sat down on the floor of their playroom at Thornhill and worked all Saturday afternoon on their Mother’s Day gift for Penelope Blossom.

The floor was covered in the most various arts and crafts supplies, from popsicle sticks to small sheets of paper in every color imaginable. It was the twins’ first time making a gift on their own. Cheryl had always been the most creative of the twins, but Jason was happy to enable her. Anything to make his sister happy. Jason had insisted on the surprise gift, and so Clifford agreed.

Cheryl was sitting across from her brother, what seemed like hundreds of colored pencils, pens and crayons around her, as she concentrated on her art piece. The background was Thornhill under a bright blue sky, tall and imposing, surrounded by vibrant red maple trees, and right at its gates, posing like the happiest of families, were all the Blossoms. Cheryl made sure to put extra effort on Penelope’s outfit, even adding glitter to the blouse. She loved how elegant her mommy looked.

Jason, unfortunately, wasn’t having the same luck with his project. He frowned at his unimpressive popsicle stick creation once he was done. Cheryl, looking up at her brother and seeing the disappointment in his face, was quick to smile at him and praise his popsicle creation.

“All you need is just a little bit more red glitter glue, Jayjay”, the cheerful girl said. “Red glitter makes everything better.”

Jason smiled back and did as his sister suggested.

The following day, the twins presented their gifts to Penelope. Mrs. Blossom smiled and thanked them for the lovely gifts, quickly putting them away as the family left for their Mother’s Day brunch.

 

**•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

 

Years later, when the twins were already in junior high, Cheryl was once again working on her Mother’s Day gift on a Saturday afternoon. The mood, however, was much different from previous years.

Cheryl was fidgety, nervously checking her phone screen every few minutes for any new messages from Jason as she waited at the flower shop counter. The redhead girl had spent almost two hours inside the flower shop, handpicking every single flower that would go in the bouquet. The florist, a middle-aged woman with a kind smile, attended to the girl’s every whim, answering every question Cheryl had about flower meanings and picking and switching the flowers for Mrs. Blossom’s bouquet over dozens of times. The florist knew better than to displease a Blossom in Riverdale.

After an exceedingly long time, Cheryl finally decided on a large assortment of pink roses, stargazer lilies, green chrysanthemums, seafoam statice and white carnations. She tried her best to stay away from the family’s traditional Blossom red. She needed soothing colors. Purity, compassion, forgiveness, unconditional love. Not a spec of red anywhere.

The following morning, when Cheryl handed Penelope the lavish bouquet and her handmade Mother’s Day card, Mrs. Blossom was barely able to contain her scowl. Cheryl clasped her hands together so Penelope wouldn’t see how much they were shaking, but she had a feeling her mother knew. After taking the floral arrangement from Cheryl’s hands, Penelope quickly called for a housemaid, pointedly giving instructions to dispose of the flowers in front of Cheryl.

When Cheryl was crying inconsolably in Jason’s room that Sunday night, her brother gently kept telling her their mother would come around eventually; Penelope just needed time to process what had happened.

“Mom will always love you, Cheryl,” Jason said as he held his sobbing sister. “Don’t ever doubt that.”

 

**•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•**

 

Time passed and Cheryl, now in high school, was an only child. It was the day before Mother’s Day again, and the redhead had no one to share it with anymore. Jayjay was gone. There would be no more working on gifts together on Saturday afternoons, no more Sunday nights spent in Jason’s room watching teen dramas and eating cherry ice cream after Penelope had thrown away Cheryl’s gift.

There would be no more Mother’s Day.

Cheryl was being emancipated and Penelope was leaving Thistlehouse. The second Sunday of May would now be just a regular Sunday, just like every other Sunday in the year. Nothing special. No Jayjay, no Penelope, no failed gifts, just nothing.

When Toni called her and asked if she wanted to get milkshakes at Pop’s, Cheryl stopped and bit her lower lip before replying. The redhead couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason why she didn’t reply right away. She knew she had nothing important to do that afternoon but it just felt… odd. All her life Cheryl always rejected every offer, every commitment on the Saturday before Mother’s Day. It was she and Jayjay’s thing. They would prepare their gifts and, in the recent years, Jason would keep encouraging Cheryl throughout the day.

But Jayjay was gone. Penelope was leaving.

“I would love to, T.T.”

Moments later, over milkshakes, Cheryl told Toni all about it. The pink haired girl could always get her to spill her feelings so easily. Much like Jayjay did.

Cheryl talked and Toni listened.

By the time the remaining of their strawberry and chocolate milkshakes was already melted and warm inside the tall glasses, Cheryl was crying and Toni was lovingly holding her hand, much like she did on their very first “not date”.

Cheryl wasn’t just crying over gift shopping and failed attempts to get approval from her mother, and Toni understood that. Cheryl was crying because she lost everything. The following day would be a reminder of that. Mother’s Day was never just about Penelope and extravagant flower bouquets for Cheryl.

On Sunday night, Cheryl sat alone in the drawing room at Thistlehouse. Nana Rose was already fast asleep, Cheryl had tucked her in hours ago. Penelope and Claudius were staying God knows where for now, Cheryl didn’t bother to ask when she kicked them out. She would only see her mother when Mrs. Blossom came to pick up some of her things, having not yet officially moved out.

Making herself comfortable on the floor, Cheryl opened the heavy wooden box of olden photographs and mementos and started looking through it. Photos of her and Jason, of family hunts and tree tapping ceremonies, old letters, assorted cards and children’s drawings. Past Mother Day’s gifts. The redhead kept going through them all. Then she stopped. Something was missing.

Cheryl was sure it had been there, she saw it when she was looking for the Sugarman drawing for Cousin Betty. It was there.

The implication of what it meant downing on Cheryl, the image of her dear brother and his comforting words from years before came to mind. The redhead reached with shaky hands for the phone laying on the couch.

“What is it, Cheryl?” said the weary voice on the other side of the line. “What do you want?”

“Mommy…” the girl started with a teary voice. “Did you ever really love me?”

Cheryl’s voice broke midsentence and had it been any other night, she would be afraid Penelope would scold her for it. But not that night.

“…goodnight, Cheryl.” The line went mute.

And so Cheryl Blossom put down her phone and cried, lying on the floor of Thistlehouse, in her lace night robe and running mascara. For everything she had lost, for Jayjay, for Clifford, for Penelope, for Thornhill, for Mother’s Day brunches and trashed stargazer lily bouquets.

And instead of her brother’s words to comfort her that Sunday night, what consoled Cheryl was the missing drawing of a happy family surrounded by the sweetest maple trees.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Mother's Day!! sadfvahsdavhjd ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ


End file.
